“America I AM” exhibit includes Michael Jackson finds

The “America I AM: The African American Imprint” exhibition at the Boisfeuillet Jones Atlanta Civic Center holds a couple of finds for Atlantans mourning Michael Jackson, plus an opportunity for visitors to express feelings about the singer’s death.

Among the nearly 300 artifacts in the touring history and culture show are a gold whistle Jackson wore onstage in many 1980s performances. There’s also a 1970 letter to Motown chief Berry Gordy from the Walton School of Panorama City, Calif., providing details on tuition that Gordy was interested in helping pay for Michael and his brothers in the Jackson Five. The group’s hit 1970 single, “ABC,” is represented in its 45 and album versions.

The letter and records are from Gordy’s personal collection. The whistle is on loan from Detroit attorney Gregory Reed’s Keeper of the Word Foundation.

Friday, exhibit organizers added a memorial to Jackson at the exhibit’s conclusion, with a plaque, flowers and a wreath. Visitors are being encouraged to leave personal messages, mementos and flowers. The reflections will travel to Los Angeles, the exhibit’s next stop after it closes here Sept. 6, and beyond.

“We just think it’s appropriate,” said creative director Mark Lach of Arts and Exhibitions International. “We all feel a need to connect after this tragedy in some way.”